"Who are the best in their fields that the heart must come before ability, honor and money... ""The attitude should be wholehearted and truthful."-Bae Yong Joon-

Friday, September 27, 2013

[Flash Back] WLS - a legend is born [part 1/2]

"Maybesome of youalreadyreadthispost before. But for thosewhohave not read yet, this timeIwantto share it again, some (flash back) of the storiesbehindWinter Sonata (which has beensharedby sisterBBinher blog). This post isa quitelong. But it is veryinteresting to read.AH!! Istrongly agreewithPDYun whenhesaid that (youcan readatthe endof thispost)" Although Bae Yong Joon appears to be the most tender lover…...But if he were standing in front of you, you’ll be thinking he’s the manliest of all the men." Thatwas also what Ithinkabouthim all of this time, although Ioftensay that he is beautiful. But still,for mehe is verymanly. So Yes!! He is the manliest of all the men..heheh^^ Well, enjoy reading everyone!" ^^=======================

Late 2001… PD
Yun Seok-Ho, who had created a k-drama fever in Asia with his Autumn in
My Heart, set up his own production company. He was just preparing for
the TV drama Winter Sonata, the second instalment in the four seasons
series, a joint project with KBS. Since whether or not his new
production company made it or not depended greatly on this particular TV
drama, he was particularly cautious. And it was during the casting
decisions that he thought of Bae Yong Joon who had just made a terrific
comeback with the Hotelier, and of course, he’s the same young man who
was so helpless during his very first day of filming and was berated by
none other than PD Yun himself.At
that time, KBS did not take too kindly to the idea of casting this
rather strong-willed and somewhat stubborn star Bae Yong Joon. He had
after all ‘walked out on them’ once. But PD Yun managed to convince
them.

And Bae Yong Joon, in what many saw as a gesture to repay
PD Yun for his kindness and guidance from Yong Joon’s debut days, took
the first step to rekindle ties with KBS. He even voluntarily reduced
his appearance fee for Winter Sonata. He accepted a super-low fee of
4.5m Korean won [approx US$4,700] per episode, this in comparison with what PD Yun had paid Song Seung Hun 15m Korean won [approx US$16,000]
for his role in Autumn in My Heart. This marked the start of what was
to become the most influential collaboration in Korean drama
productions, with effects so far-reaching they were beyond anyone’s
imagination.

When asked why he had chosen Bae Yong Joon to be the male lead for Winter Sonata, PD Yun had this to say,

“Personally,
I’ve this sort of value system, that pure things are the most
beautiful, that pure love is beautiful. So, I’m very concerned about
projecting this image, this impression. It’s only natural that I will
only want actors who are able to convey this impression of absolute
purity.

Bae Yong Joon possesses this sort of aura that’s all
clean and pure, a quality that’s not easy to comprehend or replicate.
In him, we can see quite many different sides and qualities, like
purity, romance... even sensuality and sexiness. And all of these are
suitable for all of our scenes in the drama. The role of Jun Sahng in
Winter Sonata, he’s really the most suitable choice.”When PD Yun recalled the very first time he laid eyes on Bae Yong Joon,

“That
was in 1994. I met Bae Yong Joon for the first time when I was
directing Love’s Greetings. At that time, I’d already felt there’s this
quality of absolute purity that’s quite princely. That was his debut,
and he was naturally tensed and nervous. But even then, that clean-cut,
pure quality that came through so naturally, that’s something that I’ve
not come across in all of the actors I’ve met. So, I still haven’t
forgotten about that special quality up till now.”

“Years
later, when I met Bae Yong Joon again for Winter Sonata, I sensed that
Yong Joon has matured. Now, he’s more adept in grasping and expressing
the feelings of love and of sadness. He’s one of the rare few who
brings to my mind a clean quality that reminds me of a child. Very rare
and precious, indeed!”

Winter
Sonata started filming on 7th Dec 2001. Bae Yong Joon was supposed to
take on two roles: The pure and melancholic high school student Kang Jun
Sahng, and the bright and cheerful American Korean Lee Min Hyung. Bae
Yong Joon was greatly troubled over the interpretation of an 18-year-old
student. He struggled with how to portray that character convincingly.

[bb:
it's kindda hard to believe that it's been over four years since WLS
was aired. and while crowfeet and fine lines have found their way to my
face, wuri yong joon's still looking good as ever! and some people have
only watched WLS recently, and despite the time lag, they still find
themselves being drawn to the drama, to the man. goes to show good
dramas and fine men are timeless, huh?]

“The
two characters’ names are different, their personalities are different
too. So when we finished the first two episodes and started on the
third, I felt as though I had already finished one drama and was about
to start on a new drama. It was difficult for me to play that role of
the high school student.

Well, for one, I’m no longer at the age
of a high school student. So I kept worrying about whether the audience
would be able to see the role that I played as a real high school
student. That gave me quite a fair bit of stress."

In
the beginning, Yong Joon even suggested to the production team to just
get a real high school student to play that role in those first few
episodes. But one of the highlights of the drama was that when Yujin
saw Lee Min Hyung’s face ten years later, that face had to be the same
as the 18-year-old Jun Sahng. PD Yun kept giving him encouragement and
motivated him to try. After much consideration, Yong Joon finally faced
up to the task and took up the difficult challenge of portraying that
young Jun Sahng.

Haha, but
even though wuri yong joon had played both roles, in the beginning it
was still difficult for me to believe they were played by the same
person. He looked so different! And apparently I ain’t the only one
who had thought this way. A fan said this, I think…

“The
Jun Sahng that Bae Yong Joon had played was a very interesting
character. He’s so full of colours, there’re different layers to him.
The impression I had gotten was of sadness, loneliness, reticence,
sensitivity, a bit of rebellion, willfulness… a young man seemed cold
and standoffish on the surface, but as so kind and tender inside. That
pure young man who’d got a hidden playfulness and liveliness deep inside
him, and who yearned so much for fatherly love. At the age of 30, to
play a 18-year-old young man with such a complicated makeup… surely that
wasn’t easy.”

“In
terms of outward appearance, he was dressed like a 18-year-old. But
more than that, his expressions and actions were even more flawless.
The way he stood, sat and walked were all so different from the all
grown-up Lee Min Hyung.”

“…
Snowball fights, that happy and carefree look in his eyes when he made
the little snowmen kiss… the playfulness was just so young. That sort
of liveliness and that sort of sadness that only a 18-year-old boy can
have… that’s even more difficult to portray than a cute and carefree
18-year-old girl. Those expressions that were uniquely 18-year-old, the
nuances and little touches, I can’t figure out how he had managed to
bring them all out so convincingly. I’ve read the so-called screenplay,
but there wasn’t much description about the expressions and all that.
When I first watched it, I had even suspected that they had gotten
another young man who looked like him to play the role. I even checked
the actors’ names in the cast, just to be sure.”

[bb:
yea, just have a look at all these screencaps. it's unimaginable how
wuri yong joon has put in so much life and soul into a 18-year-old. the
expressions were all so accurately and precisely captured!

i've
always thought wuri yong joon's acting in WLS was underrated. lots of
people thought it's real easy to do those two roles of jun sahng and min
hyung. know what i think? i think it's very easy to go overboard in
terms of portraying those two characters. when for a grown man to play a
18-year-old, it's so easy to overdo it and come across as too-cute or
too much of acting cute. can be quite obnoxious, if you ask me. and
with min hyung, it's not just about looking food in winter clothes and
scarves, it's about how he made us believe in love. easy? i don't
think so, you know.]

During the
shooting, Yong Joon had also tried different ways of expression and
acting. This time, he had deliberately not read the script ahead of
time, because he no longer wanted to act ‘systematically and
methodically’. He stressed that he hoped to show a more natural style
of acting in Winter Sonata.

“Even
if it’s just breathing… even single action and gesture will be natural.
For instance, if we drop a prop or something during filming, I’ll just
pick up the object quietly and carry on with the acting, as if nothing
happened. I’m already tired of acting in the old way of reading and
memorizing every single line in the script, and then act in the
practiced and rehearsed manner. I would like my performance to be more
natural, as if everything’s just flowing out naturally from life.”

The female lead in Winter Sonata was none other than Choi Ji Woo, the actress who had starred opposite Yong Joon in First Love in 1996.

The two
people who had worked together before, met again on Winter Sonata five
years later and they worked seamlessly well together. Together, they
created many sweet scenes, some very beautiful scenes and of course,
some awfully touching scenes too. Yong Joon also took the lead in
ensuring and maintaining the relaxed and happy atmosphere on set.
Everyone behind the scene, including PD Yun, were all ecstatic with his
transformation from before. They said, “The lines of his shoulders line
softer and more relaxed now.”

The two young scriptwriters Kim Eun Hee and Yoon Eun Kyeong also said this of him in the most sincere of tone:“He
really has the manners and behaviour of an older brother. Oh, maybe I
should say he’s got the very traits of the oldest boy in the family? In
Korea, the oldest boy in the family will be taught to be courteous to
his elders and to help his juniors solve problems and all that.
Although I can’t be sure Bae Yong Joon is the oldest in his family,
whenever I see how he reaches out willingly to help his juniors or the
younger crew members, I would feel he’s just like my big brother.”

[bb:
Yes, we all know he is the oldest boy in his family, the only boy in
fact... and oh btw, i remember reading somewhere that the scriptwriters
were kindda quite taken with how handsome wuri yong joon was and all.
but coz min hyung was sort of a like casual dresser, they were so happy
to have created a scene in WLS for yong joon to be dressed in formal
suits. and yes, just as they had expected it, he was absolutely dashing
in that scene where he wore a dark suit to the corporate function where
yujin wore chaelin's dress. ah... and yes, once again, i digressed...
sighs... some things never change!]

In contrast
to the relaxed atmosphere on set, the filming process was at the same
time tensed and difficult. PD Yun is someone who will give up his soul
just to present the most perfect scene on the screen. Just to capture
that fleeting moment of sunrise, he would wait patiently for house until
the sun rises above the horizon. And if he had to go to the top of the
mountain for that rainbow shot, then he would lug his camera and go up
there without hesitation. And sometimes halfway through a shooting, he
discovered an even better setting, then they would give up everything
they had shot before and moved everyone and everything to the better
place..

It was
because of this single-minded pursuit for the best that they created
scene after scene of beautiful memories for us. But it’s also because
of this that the entire team gave much more time, effort and energy than
other teams on other drama production. This, coupled with the fact
that Korean dramas are filmed as they’re being aired, tired everyone
out. Bae Yong Joon, as the male lead, had to shoulder a lot of the
filming and I guess you can imagine the burden upon his shoulders. And,
not to forget, wuri Yong Joon is probably as much of a perfectionist as
PD Yun.During
the filming of Winter Sonata, Yong Joon slept an average of two to
three hours a day. He even had a record of going through four straight
days of filming without any sleep. Once, after a few nights of
continuous filming, when Min Hyung was lying on the hospital bed and
Yujin was sitting by his bedside pouring her heart out, Yong Joon
finally could not fight the sleepiness in him. Hee, he fell asleep
during filming and even started to snore. Choi Ji Woo who was prepping
herself for the scene could not help but laugh at that. Even the honcho
PD Yun also had an experience of falling asleep on the floor right
after he okayed a scene. Funny incidents that mostly related to people
falling asleep were aplenty, and became classic topics for conversation
amongst the cast and crew.

What we saw
on-screen were the beautiful wintry scenes, so beautiful they might as
well have come straight from paintings. But the actors and actresses
sure had a tough time filming in the cold and in the snow. Especially
since Winter Sonata was supposedly a contemporary drama with a bit of a
purist slant, the two leads could not possibly be huddled in big and
puffy winter coats to sprout lovey-dovey words. They wore clothes that
made them more stylish than warm and often had to shoot in the cold, the
temperature reaching below 20 degree Celsius sometimes. The hardship
was more than anyone could imagine.

incidentally, you can watch the clip of how they had made the scene above here, courtesy of foreverbyj. just click on the exclusive kissing vod link, then click on 56k or broadband, depending on your connection.

When
they were filming the part up in the ski resort where Min Hyung was
asking Yujin who she really loved, the snowflakes that were blowing all
over very quickly got into their hair. The actors’ faces and tongues
were so cold that they were hardly functioning. They kept saying their
lines wrong and had many NG takes...

In the end,
Yong Joon even fell ill due to the harsh weather and also from fatigue.
He had to be sent to the hospital for drip. When the assistant PD
wanted Yong Joon to stay on to recuperate in the hospital, and was
planning to push back the filming schedule, wuri Yong Joon insisted on
returning to the set to resume filming. Looking at how he was still on
the drip and filming, and how he tried to keep himself alert with
medication and cigarettes, everyone in the team was moved by his
professionalism and dedication. Everyone said, “This is one special star.”

[bb:
I digress a little here [again!!]… Just want to say it’s funny how CJW
was able to take all these. Even in Beautiful Days where she starred
opposite LBH, he too was rushed to the hospital from fatigue, but she
was perfectly okay. I remember reading somewhere LBH too was totally
amazed at her physical and mental strength, how someone frail as her
could take the punishing filming. And I think she said the ginseng
helped. Mmm....]

PD Yun also shared this,“Once
we’ve spent more time working together, the truth is I’m amazed at how
matured Yong Joon has become, I’m surprised by his masculine charisma.
Although Bae Yong Joon appears to be the most tender lover… But if he
were standing in front of you, you’ll be thinking he’s the manliest of
all the men. This fellow is especially conscientious and serious when
he’s working.”

[bb:
I think PD Yun has nailed it right on the head. Really, that’s it.
Wuri yong joon looks tender and gentle and all that jazz, but he doesn’t
come across as soft or sissy. Despite the tender image, he’s all man.
I love how there’re such contrasting qualities in him, the yin and the
yang all balance out to give us one frightfully amazing man. Fire on ice.]

i'll
end off this part with two of my fave pictures during WLS time. enjoy,
and do check back here for part 2. hehe, i don't know when i'm going
to post that though...

Search This Blog

Smile

Happy wife happy family^^

Park Soo Jin

Through the Years

" Through the years , when everything went wrong, together we were strong. I know that i belong right here with you..I've learned what life's about, by loving you through the years...as long it is okay, i'll stay with you through the years."

Dream High 2011

Dream High 2011

Jung Ha Myung

...

Winter Sonata

Jung Yu Jin

Saranghamnida

Gomawo

....

...

TWSSG

..

...

....

Damdoek & Sujini (TWSSG 2007)

TWSSG

Damdoek & Sujini

Memories of Winter Sonata

Kang Jun Sang & Yujin (WS 2002)

Favorite lyrics of the song

"Even if i am born again a hundred times..I won't be able to find a better place,since i met you in this world....The reason this world is beautiful,is that because you live here..."------Song: Do You Know (아시나요) by Jo Sung Mo (조성모)------